Means and method for drying printed paper



Oct. 30 1923. 1,472,450

J. c. YETTER MEANS AND METHOD FR DRYING PRINTED PAPER Filed March 26 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. C. YETTER MEANS AND METHOD FOR DRYING PRlNTED PAPER 5 Sheets-Sheet oct. so, 1923,

Filed March 26, 1920 J. C. YETTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 3` Filed March 26 1920 muuu@ @WN/72 ff mfG/572 Yefffl" Oct. 30 1923.

MEANS AND METHOD FOR DRYING PRINTED APER Patented oct. 3o, 1923.

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JOHN C. YETTER, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MEANS AND METHOD FOR DRYING PRINTED PAPER.

Application led March 26, 1920. Serial No. 368,830.

To all whom t may concer/n.'

Be it known that I, JOHN C. Yn'r'rnn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means and Methods for Drying Printed Paper, of which the following is a speciiication.

' My invention relates to printing art and has special reference to improvement in means and methods for drying sheets in the process of printing.

My invention has for its object to hasten the drying` of the ink in the process of printing a continuous web of paper to the end that the machine can be run at a higher speed and the output increased, particularly in two color press work.

A further object of'my invention is toprevent the escape of the fumes and odors arising from the ink, into the press room and thus make the press room more healthful.

One important feature of my invention resides in the application of a blast of heated air directly against the printed sheet as it passes around the drying cylinder and causing the air to travel in a substantiallyuniform layer over and around the cylinder in contact vwith the paper, then directing said air through the cylinder, which is hollow, to maintain the same heated.

Another important feature of my invenv tion relates to the prevention of fires which fr uently arise from electric discharges igniting the fumes of the volatile oils in the ink, particularly just as the paper is leavingf the printing cylinder.

I accomplish this latter by two means, one the production of a moist atmosphere to eliminate the production and discharge of the electricityand the other the withdrawal of the dangerous fumes as they are formed and their mixture with such a large proportion of air that they cannot be ignited.

The means which I employ are very simple and are all correlated to produce the rapid drying of the ink and the protection of the paper and the press from re.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings,tforming a part of this specification and in which f Figure 1 is a vertical diagrammatic cross section of one unit` of a two color press, embodying my invention;

The paper web 2 is fed to the press from a supply roll, not shown, and, after passing through the press, during which passage it receives one impression, it passes to the drying mechanism to be described..

In said press 1, 3 represents the impression roller over which the paper web 2 passes,fbeing held in contact therewith by the friction driving` pressure roller 4. The

impression roller 3 receives its ink from a suitable ink reservoir. 5 below the roller and suitable means are provided for removing the surplus ink, as for instance, the scraper 6. It should be understood that the showing of the press and its parts is merely diagrammatic, the structural details of such presses being well known art.

The paper web 2 is guided onl suitable guide rollers 7 and '8 horizontally between the rollers 3 and 4 and as it leaves the roller 8 it is `directedvupwardly to the relatively large drving cylinder 9- around which it is drawn for' the purpose of drying the first impression before the web is directed to the second unitto receive the second impression.

Thel paper fweb passes varound the drying cylinder 9 nearly 360 deg. and it then passes around a series of guide rollers 10, 11 and 12 .to the second unit for receiving the second impression.

The cylinder 9 is heated and if the press is not runat too high a speed, the ink is dry when the web leaves this cylinder. I have found that with the presses vnow inuse either the cylinder must be too large or the press run too slow to eiect the dr ng of the ink Vin this manner before the we leaves the drying cylinder. To avoid these inherent difficulties I provide means for hastening the drying of the ink as the paper web passes around the drying cylinder.

to those skilled in thel -tially uniformly spaced therefrom,

ist

This means consists of a series of blowers or fans 13 arranged near the delivery side of the drying cylinderj and adapted to drive blasts of air against the outer surface of the cylinder. As shown in Figure 5, the cylinder is relatively long and 1n order to cause the blast or current of' air to be impin d against the cylinder uniformly from Een to end, I use a plurality of fans having delivery spouts or conduits 14 which are arranged substantially in vcontact with each other and occupy the total length of the cylinder. I arrange the fans upon the upper wall of a chamber 15 to which heated or warm all.' is delivered through a supply pipe 16 at one end. The means for heating the air for delivery to the chamber 15 is not shown. The chamber 15 is tapered longitudinally, being larger inA cross section at the entrance end and gradually tapering down toward theother end so that the hot air will be uniformly delivered to the intakes of the several fans. In order to arrange the fans and the delivery pipes 14 close together, I arrange them in two rows or banks, one behind the other, the deliveryv pipes 14 of the rear row passing between the several fans of the forward row.v The two rows of fans are arranged on shafts 17 and these shafts carry pulleys 18-19 by means of which they are drlven.

The hot air is driven against the cylinder and it passes around the cylinder in a uniform relatively thin stream as Wide as the cylinder is long and the outer wall 20.0f the chamber 15 is carried close to the cylinder s0 that the air cannot escape around the c linder below but is forced to travel aroun the cylinder in the direction of the arrow 21, t at is, in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the cylinder so that the air first strikes the paper shortly before the paper leaves the cylinder and travels in the o posite direction, leaving the cylinder at su stantially the point where the paper first comes in contact therewith. To hold the current of air against the cylinder I rovide a cylindricalf'casing or guard 22 w 'ch extends around the cylinder and is-substanroviding the air channel or space 23 through which the'war'm air travels around the cylinder.

At the side of the cylinder 9 opposite to the chamber 15 I provide a similar chamber 24' to receive the air from the channel 23 and prevent the'escape of the air at this point I rovide a guard plate 24 having a l1 25 (w ich is formedclose to the surface o the cylinder 9 at the point where the paper web first contacts therewith. Between the lip guard 25 and the outer casing 22 is an o ning 26 leading into the chamber 24. Ibis chamber 24 is tapered longitudinally similar to the chamber 15 and at the wide end 27 I Levanto connect it to the adjacent end of the cylinder 9 by a pipe 28 so that the hot air is d irectedv through the cylinder 9 from one end to the other. To cause the hot air directed through the cylinder to pass through same p 92 which extends from one end of the cylinder to the other and which is not radially ve wide. Consequently the hot air in passing through the cylinder 9 is forced into contact with the cylindrical wall thereof. At the opposite `end of the cylinder 9 I arrange a delivery pipe 29 which I connect to a suction fan 29 and by means of Which'the hot air after use is drawn away and exhausted out of the building. The work room is thus kept free from the fumes ris ing from the volatile oils in the ink and consequently the conditions are much more healthful.

At the point of delivery of the aper from the printing roll and inthe nei hiorhood of the printing ink reservoir, is at e most dangerous point regarding the ignition of the vapor by electric discharges as the vapor of the volatile gases contain in the ink are most prevalent atlthis oint.

To reduce the possi ility of electric discharges I rovide a pan 30 arranged imme. diately be ow the web of paper as it leaves the printing roll and which pan is adapted to contain water.v The evaporation of the water under ordinary temperatures is suicient to humidify the air above vit and prevent the development of the static electricity which ordinarily produces the electric discharges. To prevent the. paper dropping down into the water in the pan 30 when the web becomes slack, for any reason, I prol vide slats 31, referably of wood, at the top of the pan. ese slats extend longitudinally of the web of aper and are separated from each other to orm a grating which effectually dprevents the paper touching the mr an permits the water vapor to rise a further preventative I provide insulation edges 32 of fibre, porcelainor similar material on the-edges of the pan and a similar insulation edge 33 on the lower edge of the guardv plate 24. These insulation edges assist in preventing electric discharges.

As a further safe guard against electric dis-fL charges I make the guide roller 8 of `fibre or some similar insulating substance.

The ard 24 extends as -a continuous guard m its upper end 25 to its lower end 33, just above the rear edge of the l pan and I provide a`pipe 34Gwhich communicatas with the space between the lower edge 33 of the guard 24 and the upper edge of the pan by means of a funnel shaped connection 35. The pipe 34 connects with the hot air exhaust pipe 29 and suction in the pipe 29 exhausts the space immediately above the pan 30'. As there is an open space between the pan and the paper, free atmospheric air is drawn into the pipe 34 with the vapors from the ink and the vapors are so diluted thereby that'the danger of their ignition is completely eliminated. Furthermore the deleterious or unhealthful fumes which ordinarily accumulate in the press room before they are carried away are by this system prevented from escaping into the room at all.

It will be obvious that the connection between the pipes 28 and 29 and the drying cylinder are such as to permit the cylinder to rotate while the pipes remain stationary, but such construction is well understood.

As many' modificationsy of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, I do not limit or confine my invention to the specific structures or sequence of ste-ps herein shown and'described.

I claim:

1. In a web printing press, a drying cylinder around which the printed web passes, a casing forming a chamber around the cylinder, and means for forcing hot air through said chamber in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the* web.

2. In a web printing press, a drying cylinder around which the printed web passes, a casing enclosing the cylinder, the casing open for the entrance, and exit of the web, an inlet at one side of the casing adjacent to the point of exit of the web, means for forcing a stream of hot air into the casing through said inlet, an outlet opening for the hot air adjacent the entrance opening for the web, means for directing the heated air through said cylinder from its point of escape from the casing, and suction means for drawing the heated air through the cylinder. l

3. The herein described method of drying paper in the process ofy printing paper `in web form, which consists of directing 'the web between printing rolls, directing the printed web around a drying cylinder, projectin a blast of hot air against the drying cy inder and causing it to travel around the cylinder and contact with the printed surface of the web.

4. The hereinv described method of drying paper in the process of printing paper in web form, which consists in directing the web between the printing rollers, directing the printed web around a drying cylinder,l

projecting a blast of hot ai-r against the drying cylinder and causing it to travel around the cylinder in a direction opposite to the direction of travel' of the printed'web, and in contact therewith. l

5. Thev improvements herein described comprising a printing press having a drying cylinder around which the paper is directed after it is printed, a casing substantially en? closing the cylinder and spaced therefrom to form an air channel, a plurality of power driven fans arranged in a row longitudinally of the cylinder and adapted to impinge blasts of air against the cylinder for passage through said channel.

6. The improvements herein described comprising a printing press having a dryin cylinder around which the paper is directe after it is printed, a casing substantially 'enclosing the cylinder and spaced therefrom to form an air channel, a plurality of power driven fans arranged in a row longitudinally ofthe cylinder and having exhaust conduits arranged side by side and extending continuously from one end of the cylinder to the other and adapted to in effectA project a blast of hot air which is continuous in width from one end of the cylinder to the other.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 13th day of March, 1920.

JOHN C. YETTER. 

